


One Dance

by Meduseld



Series: Fake Married for the Benefits [2]
Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Dancing, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 06:58:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11248668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meduseld/pseuds/Meduseld
Summary: Things you said with no space between us. (Set in the fake married verse, but you can get the gist without it).





	One Dance

They’d danced, at their wedding.

Just the first song, Ben stiff as a board beneath his hands and enough room for Jesus between them.

They hadn’t stayed long at the reception. There hadn’t been a way to get around it, not if they didn’t want to get accused of insurance fraud because Ben works for the goddamned CIA and Caleb was too raw from his discharge to get lawyers that could cut the red tape between Uncle Lucas and his veteran’s insurance.

That night Ben had quietly said goodnight and gone to his own room and Caleb had wanted to go to his knees and beg forgiveness.

It had been better, the next day and the next day and the next. Sometimes it’s so easy to come home to a warm house and joke “Lu- _cy_ , I’m ho-o-me!” that he forgets that Ben has neatly prepped divorce papers in the main safe. He’d showed Caleb, along with the combination, and they’d both politely ignored the other safe, hidden behind a false wall in the hall closet.

He knows exactly who he married, and it’s scary how not scary it is.

When he’d come back, the taste of old dirt in the back of his throat, he’d worried about all of it. Every backfiring car and paper form to fill and thunderbolt in the sky, and Ben, he’d worried most about Ben.

That he’d leave, that he’d get tired, that he’d stop slipping into Caleb’s bed after every screaming nightmare until the shaking stopped. Ben’s the only thing he still turns over in his mind when he can’t sleep.

Would he miss Caleb? Was he onto him? What if he- what if, what if, what if.

Some of those nights, he hears the TV click quietly on.

Always on mute, usually the Twilight Zone.

And Ben, in the afghan Anna gave them and pale as a ghost. Caleb makes tea and sits beside him. One night, Ben had reached over and held his hand and Caleb had swallowed promises like glass.

For the most part though, it’s smooth, and Ben barely hesitates when he asks Caleb to accompany him to some stuffy dinner in DC.

His boss hadn’t come to the wedding, but he’d sent a nice card and an amazing crate of wines. Considering he’s the President of the United States, the genuine sentiment in the card had been more valuable.

It’s easier than Caleb would have thought, the ritzy ballroom and tiny, overpriced food.

They’re seated with the First Lady, who is both brassier and classier than she comes off on television and Caleb would vote for the President’s reelection for her alone.

And it’s no chore to play the devoted husband.

He crosses the room to the bar, for sodas because Ben won’t drink at a work function and Caleb won’t take even the smallest risk of messing this up. He looks over his shoulder, ready to dramatically roll his eyes at the wait and sees his husband looking back.

Ben looks soft, even at a distance, his hair starting to fall out of his braid.

He’s as undeniable as gravity and Caleb is reaching for him before he can really think about it.

He can barely hear the music as they move onto the floor, not that it matters because all they do is sway.

Their bodies fit together like water, nothing to separate them, and Caleb breathes against his neck.

Ben gives under his hands, one of the world’s best Heads of Intelligence melting with perfect trust, and he feels something close to peace.

“I’m glad you’re here” Ben whispers and there’s only one thing Caleb can say.

“Me too”.


End file.
